Memphis golfer Wittenberg named Web.com Tour Player of the Year

Casey Wittenberg during the first round of the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament Thursday, June 14, 2012, at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

AP2012

Memphis native Casey Wittenberg was named the 2012 Web.com Tour Player of the Year Tuesday in voting by his Tour competitors, but his status as the Tour's leading money winner earned him something he coveted more: full exempt on the PGA Tour in 2013.

Wittenberg, who turned 28 two weeks ago, collected $433,453, a total boosted by two victories during the year. He won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March — an event in which he played the final 48 holes without a bogey — and the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open in June.

He also had a runner-up finish and a third-place finish during a year in which he tied for 10th at the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco after earning a spot through qualifying.

"It's humbling to know that my peers voted me player of the year," Wittenberg said Tuesday in a phone interview following the announcement. "To have their respect means the world to me."

In addition to the two victories, Wittenberg had six other top 10 finishes. The two wins were his first on the PGA's developmental tour.

"It was just the culmination of a lot of things, from learning from your mistakes in the past, to maturity, to surrounding yourself with the right people," Wittenberg said. "I was just fortunate to play some good golf at the right time.

"The reality of this job is that you just have to take advantage of your opportunities. I was able to do that this year and hopefully I'll be able to do that in the future and continue to play good golf."

Wittenberg will be fully exempt on the PGA Tour for the second time in his career. The former Oklahoma State golfer earned Tour privileges three years ago after finishing 15th on the Web.com money list.

He said he may appreciate having his Tour card more this time than he did a few years ago.

"You realize how hard this job really is and how good the talent really is that's out there and how hard you really have to work," he said. "It's like anything. You are going to go through some ups and downs throughout your career, but as long as you stay focused on the right things and stay humbled through the process, I think it's (possible) to play good golf."

Wittenberg said he "played phenomenal golf" to win the Louisiana Open by eight strokes. He said he won the Wichita Open by using the momentum generated by his U.S. Open finish the week before.

Wittenberg said he'll begin the 2013 season "by playing every event on the West coast" and re-evaluate his schedule planning after those tournaments.

"Hopefully, I can play some really good golf early and play myself into some bigger tournaments," he said. "Then we'll be able to plan out a full schedule from that."

Wittenberg began working with a new swing coach — Adam Schriver of Traverse City, Mich. — at the beginning of the year. That a career-year resulted was not a coincidence.

"I think Adam has given me a fresh perspective and a different approach," Wittenberg said. "We focused on some things that some people in the past didn't focus on. For whatever reason it really seemed to click with me during certain parts of the year and I played some really good golf."